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An earnest desire for Emancipation from Slavery is the root cause for most of the civil rights movements through out history. Texas is also NOT an exception.

Two ethnic minorities - Mexican Americans and African Americans, the so called black members, being subdued for long, started protesting way back in 1836 against discrimination, segregation and brutality by the Anglos.

Even a minor insult or assault on white used to result in sadistic torture and lynching on the blacks as acts of vengeance. The laws, predominated by the white supported these vindictive activities.

No Mexican - Notice

Separate schools for Blacks, separate churches for Hispanics, separate inferior and unhygienic premises for living, the “No Mexican Allowed sign, lack of voting rights continued till mid 50s.

Demonstration and boycott with a glimpse of act of violence had become the ways of protest. Several political parties, social organizations, spontaneous movements by local bodies, eminent civil rights leaders, intellectuals, changes of laws, a lot of court cases and judgments have resulted today’s Texas.

Justice Harlan wrote, “The destinies of the two races in this country are indissolubly linked together, and the interest of both require that the common government of all shall not permit the seeds of race hate to be planted under the sanction of law. John Lewis, the civil rights activist said, “What I saw were stories quoting state politicians derisively referring to the day of that Supreme Court decision as Black Monday.”

In 1944 Moore organized the Progressive Voters League and launched a voter registration campaign throughout the state to raise political consciousness among the people irrespective of racism. The Supreme Court ruled against the practice of declaration of political parties as private organizations after a long battle of the Black. In 1945 , League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) sued the Orange County School System to remove the “more poorly clothed and mentally inferior to white children”.

Mexican Americans and Hispanics throughout the United States were denied the basic benefits like education, medical, housing, as mentioned in the GI Bill of Rights.

In 1947 , the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) sent eight white and eight black men to test the Supreme Court ruling against segregation in state levels. In 1948, 700 Mexican-American veterans, led by Hector P. Garcia, a physician from Corpus Christi, organized the American G.I. Forum , for securing equal rights for Hispanic Americans. In the post World War II days, LULAC and American GI Forum led the fight against the segregation and discrimination. In 1948, the judgment regarding the Delgado vs. Del Rio made it illegal to identify separate buildings for Mexican-Americans. Women’s organizations at Dexter Avenue provided important social services, educating women and advocating their needs. They also demanded state interference in lynching and their consistent actions challenged racist practices.

LULAC in Action

In 1954, LULAC was able to sway the verdict of the Supreme Court against the non-inclusion of Mexican in Jury duty. In the same year Gov R. Allan Shivers even called out the Texas Rangers at Mansfield while protesting against the Brown v. Board of Education’s decision of “Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race”.

LULAC has struggled for equal voting rights, full access to the political process, equality in education for Hispanic children etc. In a revolutionary judgment

In 1954, the Supreme Court acknowledged the violation of rights by the Anglos for protecting the Mexican Americans through Jim Crow practices. In 1955, The Montgomery bus boycott could draw the attention of the national leaders. The judgment of the case between Hernandez vs. Driscoll CISD (1957) stated that retaining Mexican-American children for four years in the first two grades amounted to discrimination based on race. The case of Sweatt v. Painter (1950) could desegregate a number of undergraduate colleges. In 1954 , the case of Brown v. Board of Education could yield an integration of several schools, buses, restaurants, public accommodations.

Texas witnessed a number of racial clashes between Black and the White in 1957.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), was formed in 1960 , by the students of the black colleges with an ideology of eradicating the discrimination and segregation based on pure racism. John F. Kennedy in his presidential race got immense support from the Black in the 1960 election.

In 1961, the Spanish speaking organization, a renowned political organization joined the group of LULAC and GI Forum mainly to raise the needs & wants of the Hispanics.

The Progressive Voter League started campaigning for increasing political awareness mainly among the Blacks and pursue them to franchise their votes. In 1963 , a group of 900 protestors including Hispanics, blacks and even whites marched to the capital against the slow pace of integration process. They had also raised their voice against John Connaly for his opposition against the pending civil-rights bill in Washington. Somehow in mid 60s some black segments were provoked to accept the method of violence for integration.

The twenty-fourth amendments in 1964 barred the poll tax in federal elections and Congress passed the civil right act outlawing the Jim Crow tradition.

The federal voting rights act 1965 ensured the federal marshals to monitor election proceedings eliminating local racism barriers. In 1968, The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund was established and is said to be the most successful civil rights organization. They focused at the problems of discrimination in financing schools, redistricting etc.

A suit was filed in 1969 for its discriminating statutes. Tejanos took part in the Chicano movement, which was immensely supported by the students.

The Supreme Court and the political Parties

As a step for integration, Supreme Court verdicts of 1969 and 1971 asked school districts to reserve quota for blacks. The Raza Unida Party, a political motivated party offered solutions for inequalities in 1970s . They chose the way of traditional protests like demonstrations and boycotts. But the magnitude got reduced in mid 70s.

Contemporary agenda by the federal government yielded both the Mexicans and Black Texans.

The famous suit between Cisneros vs. Corpus Christi ISD in 1970 recognized Mexican Americans as “identifiable ethnic group”. In 1975 , voting-rights act in USA had undergone another modification.

Seventies witnessed the increasing participation of Tejanos in the political activities and the empowerment of Tejanos was a significant movement.

In 1989, the legal battle between Edgewood ISD and Kirby held the system of financing public education is prone to discrimination. Texas Women in Law Enforcement (estd. In 1988 ), opened their membership to all women and men in the criminal justice field.

As the duration of the movements to establish the equal civil rights irrespective of races has been continuing over the centuries, the revolution owes it to thousands of people and organizations.

Some memorable names are Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), Improvement Association (MIA), American Gandhi Arsenault, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Bogalusa Negro Voters League, Louisiana’s Democratic Party politics, International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), American Federation of Labor.

But according to Charles W. Eagles, the famous historian, there were many independent movements against discrimination and segregation by innumerable local groups, led by the local leadership beyond the spotlight of national leaders or organisations.

But What Next?

But the question remains whether racial discrimination has really been wiped out.

The 1992 Los Angeles incident or the toll of black American prisoners to the tune of one million in 1997 prove the essence of the 1968 Kerner Report, “America is a society of racially separate unequals” is prevalent.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 11:28 am and is filed under Research and Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.